Slasher



A. L. PARK March 8, 1960 SLASHER 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. '7, 1955 A. L. PARK.

March 8, 1960 SLASHER 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 7, 1955 m WEN March 8, 1960 A. L. PARK 2,927,363

SLASHER Filed Feb. 7, 1955- 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 March 8, 1960 A. 1.. PARK SLASHER Filed Feb. 7, 1955 Fig. 5

4 Sheets-Sheet 4 United States Patent SLASHER Arthur L. Park, Old Orchard Beach, Maine, assignor to Saco-Lowell Shops, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Maine Application February 7, 1955, Serial No. 486,558

'4 Claims. (Cl. 28-28) This invention relates to textile yarn treatment and more particularly to novel slashers of the hot air dryer type and methods of slashing and is a continuation-inpart of my application S.N. 307,048, filed August 29, 1952, now Patent No. 2,752,660.

In the drying of textile yarns such as cotton or wool, for example, particularly in the so-called wet-splitting slasher, it is desirable to keep the several thousand individual yarns of the yarn sheet separated from one another as much as possible, and particularly so while the yarn is being dried to a non-tacky condition. Various complicated means have been proposed for achieving this result, but the most practical approach to the problem has been by the use of a hot air type of dryer which allows some vertical separation of the yarn sheet as well as the horizontal separation common to both hot air and cylinder dryers. Such use of vertical separation made possible by the use of a hot air dryer has greatly aided in keeping separate the individual yarns while the size coating was dried to give a superior yarn less subject to breaking and shedding in the loom.

Furthermore, I have found that automatic controls may be provided in such hot air dryers to produce a yarn of surprisingly uniform moisture content. Even if the slasher be stopped for considerable periods of time, as is frequently the case in the slashing process, my novel hot air dryer through controlled humidification prevents over drying of the yarn. Therefore, I am enabled to avoid any damage to the yarns during inevitable necessary stoppages of the slasher.

For the purpose of describing further objects and features of my novel slasher and methods, reference is made to the following drawings illustrating preferred embodiments thereof, in which Figs. 1 and 1a when taken together provide a diagrammatic cross sectional view of the novel slasher of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of my novel countercurrent hot air dryer as used in the slasher of Figs. 1 and la;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of a portion of the hot air dryer of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a simplified general control system diagram of the slasher of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic cross sectional view of the dryer of Fig. 2 taken on the line 5-5 thereof when the dryer is stopped.

Referring now to Fig. l the hot air drying slasher of my invention includes a creel generally designated at 2, a sizing mechanism generally designated at 3, a wetsplitting mechanism generally designated at 4, a hot air dryer generally designated at 5, and a head end generally designated at 6.

The creel 2 includes a frame 8 in which are mounted a number of section or creel beams 9, herein shown as twelve in number. Such creel is preferably of the over ,and under type in which the alternate beams are stag- "ice gered in h eight from the floor to minimize the overall length of the, creel, particularly when a large number of creel beams are to be used therein. Ingeneral, any conventional creel as known to those in the art may be used.

By the use of such a creel, each beam of which has of the order of 500 yarn ends thereon, a mass of yard of the order of 6000 or more ends may be assembled by taking the ends of the last beam, passing them around the second to last beam, picking up the yarns on the second to last beam and so on until the ends of all the beams have been picked up to form a composite assembled mass of yarn. The yarns thus assembled are passed to size vat 3, such size vat being of any type known to the art for providing a uniform impregnation of the assembled mass of yarns. I

The impregnated yarn mass then preferably passes to the wet-splitting mechanism 4, such being arranged to take the assembled mass of yarns impregnated with size, and before completely drying it, to split it by opening it into a plurality of sheets corresponding to the number of beams in creel 2. Various types of wet-splitting means may be used, including wet-splitting means within the dryer itself, although I somewhat prefer to use that shown in my application S.N. 307,048, now US. Patent No; 2,752,660, dated July 3, 1956, if any wet-splitting mechanism at all be used.

From the wet-splitting mechanism, the yarns pass directly to my novel hot air dryer generally indicated at 5 and hereinafter fully described. Such dryer is adapted to maintain a high temperature during the first passage of the separated yarns through said dryer so that such yarns from my wet-splitting mechanism will be dried beyond the tacky stage before they are reassembled; After reassembling, drying is continued through two further passes of the apparatus, carrier rolls 11 and 13 being provided in such drier so that the passes may be arranged in vertical relation with one another to keep the over all length relatively short.

From the dryer 5 the assembled yarn ends pass to the head end generally indicated at 6 which may be any conventional type as known to the art. Such head end has a frame 7 on which may be mounted a loom beam 16 which may be driven by a suitable motor 22, such slasher head end being provided with delivery and press rolls 17, 18, and 19 driven by a suitable motor 24. A yarn moisture detecting device is preferably provided with the slasher, such device having a detector roll 20 mounted on the head and adjacent press roll 17 so that the yarn will be nipped therebetween to enable its moisture content to be determined by suitable means known to the art.

The sheet of yarns is driven through the slasher by suitable power drive means comprising three motors, a sizing mechanism motor 26 and the two head end motors 22 and 24. As is known in this art, it is essential to arrange such motors so that they may be stopped and started without appreciably varying the tension on the sheet of yarn and that they, while running, maintain a substantially uniform tension; As hereinafter more fully explained, I have provided novel control means so that when said motors are stopped or started, the humidifying means in the hot air dryer are operated, such arrangement being efiective to prevent damage to the yarns when the slasher is stopped or started as is frequently required during operation of such machines, as for example to tie broken yarns on the beams in the creel as such ends appear.

The major components of the above described slasher need not be connected mechanically to one another except through the yarns, although electrical wiring and controls interconnecting the separate units of the combina tion are of course essential-all as is more fully hereinafter explained.

f expand inwardly toward said enclosure.

My novel hot air dryer 5, as best shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 5 ispositioned immediately following the wet-splitting mechanism 4 if one be' used, in order to dry the yarns so that they may be wound on a loomli'beam by the head end 6; The hot air dryer in general has three separate ya-rn passes, A, Read C, each of which: has its own individual airrecirculating and heating means, such three passes each being maintained at different temperatures for most efficient drying as hereinafter more fully explained. In general, the dryer includes a frame 30 Having mounted therein three pairs of plenum chambers one above the other, the entire dryer preferably" being enclosed within insulating surfaces 31 having suitable gofpenings for the passage of yar ns into and out of the fl'videdmounted' on frame 30 at the end of the dryer opposite to the wet-splitting mechanism 4, such roll being of ,a diameter sufficient to guide the yarns from the space between plenum chambers 40 and 42 (pass A) into the space between plenum chambers 50 and 52 (pass B).

A third pair of plenum chambers is provided above cipening 32 in frame 30 from the wet-splitting mecha "Essa-sea 57 and 56 for providing heated air to plenum chambers 50 and sz'r'es'pe'etively', 'a return duct 59 beingpfovided to return the air from the end of pass B back to heater and blower'mechanism 56. A third heater and blower 66 is arranged to provide air, to plenum chambers 60 and 62 through output ducts 67 and 68 respectively, a return duct 69 being provided from the end of pass C back to heater and blower mechanism 66. Suitable filters 81 for removing dust and lint are provided for each of the heaters and'blowers to cleancontinuously the recirculatedair.

further means are'arranged for continuously providing for exhaust of'moisture laden air from pass A and for intake of fresh air into" pass C as well as means for providing for movement of air between the individual passes as air is exhausted from pass A; Accordingly a duct 70 havinga damper 72 is provided'between pass B return duct-59, and pass A heater and blower 46,- such damper being adjusted in accordance withthe dc sired operating conditions to return asmall part of the air passing through pass B return duct 59 to heater and blower 46. The damper 72 may be of the draft operated type, so that it is open only when, air isbeing exhausted from pass A. n Likewise a duct 74 is provided between pass Cfreturn duct 69, and pass 8 return duct- 59, a damper 76 similar to damper 72 being provided .in said duct to allow the movement of a portion'of theair in pass C return duct 69 to be transferredto heater plenum chambers 50 and 52, such chambers including a lower plenurn chamber 60 preferably in contact with plenum chamber 52 and an'upper plenum chamber 62 spaced therefrom forming a passage (pass C) for the assembled sheet of yarns. A second carrier roll 1-3 is pro vided mounted on frame 30rto guide' the sheet of yarns passing between plenum chambers 50 and 52' (pass B) into the space between plenum chambers 60 and 62 (pass C). A third carrier roll 15 is provided at the end'of plenum chambers60 and 62 such roll being adjacent anopening 33 in name 30 to allow the passage of the dried assembled sheet of yarns out of the dryer. Preferably, an upper air chamber 38, as hereinafter more fully explained, "is provided'abov'e upper plenum'c'ha'nib'er 62' and insulated therefrom, with openings 39 at the sides of the other of said plenum chambersinto it;

3 The plenum chambers and 42, 59 and52, and 69 and 62, as best shown in Fig. 2 are all'identical in con:

and blowermechanism 5 6-. An exhaust duct 78 is provided connected to pass-A return duct- 49, said duct being providedwith a damper 80 WhlCh 'iS automatically operated by solenoid 82 as hereinafter'more fully explained.

When snch exhaust damper is open to allow air to'be exhausted from pass A, air is caused to flowxthrou glt' interconnecting ducts 70 and 74 between passes A and B, and B and C respectively, and air is drawn into pass C through. opening 33 in frame.

; Referring no'w also to Fig. 4, steam coils 44, 54, and 64, are preferably used as heaters in heaters and blowers 4.6, 56, and 66 respectively as simple means for regulating the temperature of the air passing through said heaters and blowers, since thetemperatu're of the steam in such' coils will be proportional to the steam-pressure andsuch pressure may be regulated by suitable control means.- ,7 A main steam line 84 provides steam for said coils. Such control means includes a temperature re sponsive device associated with each of the heaters and blowers 56 and 66 respectively, the temperature responstruction and include a generallyrectangular enclosure having asubstantially horizontal outer operating surface adjacent'the area through which'the yarns pass. Such operatingsurfaces include a plurality of louvers 34 extending transversely of'the apparatus, thelouvers forming openings which are narrowest at the operatingsurface and 36 extending betwee'n said louvers are flat on, the op erating surface and smoothly rounded at their interior surface. Such an opening provides a'smooth non-turbu V propriate duct work; the lower plenum chamber's' 40 and 42 by heater and blower 46,- having output-ducts 47 and 48 to plenum chambers 40 and 42 res ectively, and ya return duct 49 from the end of pass A back to said heater and blower 46. Plenum chambers. 50 and 52ers,

provided with a heater and blower 56. having eutp it 1 sive device 100 being placed at the output'of heater and blower 66, say in output duct 67 and temperature responsive device 110 beingrplaced in output duct 58 of passBheater and blower 56. A third temperature responsive device 120 for controlling the temperatures within pass A is placed in exhaust duct 78 since the i temperatures provided at thefoutput of pass Aheater The members and'blower mechanism 46 areusually too high for a' conventional temperaturejresponsive device in either of the output ductsf47 or 48'of such heater andblower. Such temperature responsive devices are connected to operate suitable valves tocontrol the steam pressures which provide heat to each of said heaters andblowers V 46, 56, and 66 as hereinafter more fully explained.

' The blowers of said li'eater's and blowers are well understoodby those skilled in the art an d may be driven by any suitable means, herein, shown as' electric motors driving each of sai d blowers. Y With this arrangement, 'it will beseen that the air flow is countcr'current to the direction of yarn travel in that is progressively moved from pass Check to pass A, gathering an increasing amount of moistureas it dries the yarns, andfinally-is 'ei ihausted fromtpass A ancients taken up its amount of" moisture. The yarns .as they enter pass'A "are in theirwettest' condition and hence relatively high i temperatures may be used in drying their in pass A In addition to the three separate blower systems,

referee: to accomplish as much drying as possible. I

have found that the temperature maintained in pass A may be as high as 300-350 F. without danger of damage to the yarn. The subsequent passes are maintained at lower temperatures, for example, if pass A is maintained at 300 F., pass B may be maintained at 250 F., and pass C at 180 F.

As is known, if the yarns are overdried in a slasher they will be damaged, so that it is essential that the slasher be operated at all times so that the yarn therein will not be overdried. When the slasher is operating and the yarns are; passing through the hot air dryer, the moisture present in the freshly sized' yarn is continuously evaporated and so tends to reduce the temperature of the air in the dryer. Thus, the temperature of the exhausted air provides an indication of moisture content of the yarn. The various control means, particularly the exhaust duct temperature responsive device 120 controlling the exhaust damper 80, provide the optimum moisture content of the yarns as they leave the dryer at the end of pass C, by opening said damper 80 at a predetermined minimum temperature which indicates too high a yarn moisture content and closing the damper at a predetermined maximum temperature which indicates too low a yarn moisture content. When the slasher is stopped with yarns in the dryer, however, moisture will not be continuously supplied and,if the yarns are stopped for too long a period of time, there is a real danger that they will be overdried, as, even through the various heating coils be turned off and the damper 80 be closed, the dryer structure will retain a sufiicient amount of heat to overdry the yarns in a relatively short time.

Accordingly, in order to avoid all danger of overdrying the yarns even when the slasher is stopped, I have found it desirable to provide a controlled source of moisture within the dryer from which moisture may be supplied to the yarns when the slasher is stopped with yarn in the hot air dryer. Such means for supplying moisture may be a humidifying coil 122 within the dryer, such coil, for example, including a perforated pipe supplied with steam from main steam line 84 through a suitable control valve 124 operated as hereinafter more fully explained. By such means, yarns may be held indefinitely in my novel dryer when the slasher is stopped, without any danger of damage to such yarns, and at the same time slasher temperatures may be maintained at their optimum.

Thus, when the slasher is running a portion of the air which is recirculated in pass ,C will continuously be drawn into pass B where it is heated up by heater and blower mechanism 56 to a higher temperature with a consequent increase in its drying capacity. In turn a portion of the air from pass B is continuously drawn into pass A. The final exhaust of the air from .pass A is through exhaust damper 80 which damper is controlled by temperature responsive device 120 to maintain a desired moisture content in the yarn. Thus in pass C the yarn is coolest and dryest and is acted upon by the lowest temperature air. As the air in that pass tends to become overladen with moisture it is drawn into pass B where through reheating to a higher temperature it is endowed with additional drying capacity. Here the same thing happens as the saturated air is drawn into a pass A where, once again, through reheating, its drying capacity is increased. The temperature responsive devices 169, 119, and 120 together with exhaust damper 80 thus control the temperatures with each of the three passes by continuously adjusting the temperatures of the heaters within heaters and blowers 46, 56, and 66 as well as operating damper 30 to exhaust the amount of fully saturated air from pass A necessary to control the yarn moisture content and thus to draw unsaturated air into pass C.

The moisture content of the yarn may be determined just before it is wound up on beam 16 by any one of a number of well known means, for example of the type which measures the electrical resistance of the yard (which resistance is a function of yarn moisture content) as it passes between the head end press roll 17 and the detector roll 20 and provides an output signal responsive to the moisture content of the yarn. Thus, such a yarn moisture responsive device 140 may be connected to the detector roll 20 to provide an output signal which may appear as on indicating dial 142.

When the slasher is stopped with a sheet of yarns therein, the essential moisture is provided by humidifying coils 122, the supply of steam to such coils being controlled by the temperature responsive device 120 which acts together with exhaust damper as above explained so that the yarns may be held indefinitely under the same moisture conditions as when the slasher is running, say no less than about 6.0% and preferably about 8.0% moisture in cotton yarn. Also, as shown in Fig. 5, the heated air will tend to rise into chamber 38 through openings 39 so that the yarn temperatures will be re-- duced, this being particularly important in case of failure of the other protection devices, such as the steam coils and blowers.

In Fig. 4 I have shown a simplified diagram of a suitable control and driving means for my novel slasher. Referring to said figure, three driving motors are provided therein for moving the yarns through the slasher, a size mechanism motor'26, beam motor 22, and a delivery roll motor 24, the purpose of the former motor being to unreel the sheets of yarn from the beams in the creel,

the delivery roll motor to move the sheets of yarn from,

the sizing mechanism to the head end through the wetsplitting mechanism and the hot air dryer and the beam motor to wind up the sheets of yarn on the loom beam. As is well understood in the art, it is essential to control such motors to provide a constant and uniform tension from the sizing mechanism through to the head end as well as to provide means for stopping and starting such motors without substantial change in the tension to avoid damage to the yarn ends, none of such means being shown herein, the motors merely being shown as operated from a suitable source of power at terminals 130 through a single pole double throw switch 132 having one terminal 132-1 arranged to operate said motorswhen the slasher is running. The blower motors are operated continuously while a sheet of yarn is in the slasher.

In order to stop and start my novel slasher, it is essential to operate the humidifying means on the hot air dryer. Hence the second terminal 132 2 of switch is arranged to operate valve 124 for supplying steam from main steam line 84 to humidifying coils 122 within thehot air dryer. Since an appreciable time may elapse before it is necessary to provide additional moisture through the dryer through said humidifying coils, I prefer to provide a switch means 126 operated by exhaust damper 80 in series with said valve 124 so that said valve will not be operated until exhaust damper 80 is closed by its control means.

The temperature responsive devices 160, 110, and 120 are used to control steam valves to supply steam to heating coils within their associated heater and blowers.

Thus, temperature responsive device operates valve 101 to connect the main steam line 84 to the steam coil 54 of heater and blower 56, the temperature responsive device 119 operates valve 111 to connect the coil 64 of heater and blower 66 to the main steam line 84; and temperature responsive device 120 operates steam valve 121 to supply steam to the coil 44 of heater and blower 46. In addition temperature responsive device 120 is arranged to operate exhaust damper solenoid 82 so that the damper 80 will be moved to permit saturated air to be exhausted through duct 78 from pass A said temperature responsive device normally being connected to said solenoid through terminal 134-1 of selector switch 134- Humidifying coil 122 will then automatically operate:

' coils or the speed of the slasher drive motorsin response 'to'yarn moisture contengif such be desired, its. use for sl Qhlatter purposes being well known By the above described control means, .theslasher will rn aintain'it's optimum drying while running, andyetit e n pre isiedzwii mass o yarn w h. a z nsm p s tio ai -divine e s n ud ng? amber.- er o g- Sized of yarns, said chamber having an *exhaustair passage,

mper m an mo nted n a d P s g qq m lia may be. readily stopped and=started, by actuating-in this:

simplified;shovvinga single switch 132, without damage,

to the yarns in my novel hot air dryer sincethe various above described means are automatically actuateddoy said switch.

. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various. otherjmodifications maybe made within theispirit of; 1 my, invention and the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

; 1 111 V alslasher having sizing means: for impregnating V a mass oflyarns with a sizing composition, air drying means including a plurality of heated chambers in vertically-staeked'relation 'for drying said sized mass, power 7 driving; means for moving said mass through said sizing; means and said drylng means, means for heating-said chambers independently of one another to provide pro; gressively decreasing temperatures of said chambers from the lowest to the highest chamber of saiddryin means, means forfeeding the mass ofyarn to'be driedto the hs x ial of al t in sa d-p s a e, dampe ecq rq m ansnd when dri ng mea sror mc n amasaQ -i yarn hr vg aid iz n m an a d amper cen a means includipg n eans responsive to the temperature of air passing through said exhaust passage for operatingsaiddampen t qre se he xh us a through aidpas:

lowest, of said chambers and progressively upwardly 7 through said chambers to the highest thereof, means for passing heated air between said chambers from-the. highest to thelowest thereof, exhaustrair passage. means for passingheated air from the lowest of said chambers,

damper means mounted in said exhaust air passage for controlling the exhaust of air from said passage humidi-. fying means in said lowest chamber operable. to supply moisture to said mass, damper control means including temperature responsive. means mounted in said exhaust. passage. responsive to. the 7 temperature of air passing we; nb i crease n Sai tem er 4-: les ashfl r.hav n s zing m s o mh z at ssa am ss, Q ae. wi h sizin wmm en. a dry ng me ns. nclu n hambs p ry sa d z d massof yar s md. h mber hav n n. exha s air passage; dam er m ans, mounte in ai P s e to ostml ie; e xh u n ain'item a d, p ssage, a p t a a hum d y n es 919 231 6 o. s pply msnsmxe o. a mies xams said c am er: nd; m di a we; 91means er onempowe d iv ngm a s f r mow ins'amass Qi m's h oush. sai izin m an aid amp wnt o n: o r. p s g hrqu h ai exhaust p a e o operating said damper; to decrease the exhaustof aig; through sai'd passage; upon increase in said temperature an id1 u i y ns. n r me g. ac u ted by: tepp n id P werd n me a e s ng means. responsive to the-temperature of air in said-chambento,

a tuate said. hum dif-Y ns. an to pp y moist re. to

said yarn mass topreventoverdrying of said yarnswvheng a; massrisstopped in said chamber and the air passing through said, chamber exhaust passage is abpve;!a ;,pre

' determined temperature.

through said exhaust passage for operating said. damper to decrease the exhaust of air; through said exhaust pas: sage upon increase in temperature of air passing through said exhaust passage and humidifying control meansin -l eluding switch means actuated by stopping of said power.

driying' means, and by said. temperature responsive 'means to-actuatejsaid humidifying means to supply moisture to said. yarn: mass to prevent overdrymg of said yarns upon said massbeing stopped in its advance through said drying means and having more than a predetermined temperature of exhaust air.

able tosupply moisture to a mass of yarns therein and.

said power driving means and sensing means responsive control means therefor, and power drivingmeans for; moving a mass of yarns through said sizingfmeans, said coiltrolmeans including rneans actuated by stopping of 7 175,644 Becker; Apr. 4, 1876 2,083,141 Buc'k June 8, 1937 2,263,017 Sparrow Nov. 18, 1941 2,270,155 'Willen -4- Jan. '13, 1942' 2270,7 32 flones Jan. 20,1942- 2,297,314 Ofien Sept.'29-, 1942 2,308,767 Mayes Jan. 19, 1943 2,333,236 Dreisel Nov. 2; 1943 7 2,402,652 Martin June 25, 1946 2,438,084 Wood Mar. 16,1948 2,442,148- Rose May 25, 1948 2,565,407 Still Aug. 21', 1951 2,574,083 .Andrews Nov. 6, 19 51 to thetemperature oi air in said chamber to actuate said 1 hpinidifyingmeans to'fsupply moisture to said yarn mass ReferenceslCited: in the hle of" this patent U I E STATES, PATENTS 'OTHERREFERENCES'. 7

Charles M. Smith: Electric and MagneticfMeas'urements, New York, The MacMillan Company,,1921, pages 108-110; p

eans including means. responsive to the temperav 

